Lose Weight Or Gain Weight - That Is The Question

When I was diagnosed with cancer, a few months ago in August, I weighed 226 pounds or 232 pounds depending on the person who weighed me. You would be surprised at how difficult it can be to make an educated registered nurse understand that the gun, magazines, bullets, handcuffs and other gear on your belt weighs between 6 and 7 pounds and that is not your body weight. Someone finally got it right after about 2 months and when they figured how much weight I have gained or lost since this ordeal began, they now use the starting weight of 226 pounds. That means I lost about 22 pounds as of my last weigh in since I came in at 204 then. I have maintained that weight, within a pound or two either way, for about a month now. If I am still that weight tomorrow, my radiation oncologist will recommend removal of the feeding tube that was surgically implanted in my stomach through my abdomen.

The question then becomes what to do. Should I lose weight or should I gain weight. I am leaning toward losing weight at a slow pace, say maybe a pound per week, maybe 2 pounds. Of course, I will have to discuss this with the docs and see what they say. They may want me to maintain my weight for awhile yet or possibly even gain weight. I was not supposed to lose any weight during treatments, I had been fitted for a facial mask that held my head in place for radiation treatment and it had to be tight. Well, I lost weight due to being placed in the hospital and them not feeding me for a few days, then them giving me a few cans of liquid through the feeding tube before I was allowed to resume eating. I lost about 12 pounds while in the hospital and the downward slide began and I lost the rest not long after that. I lost several pounds more before radiation treatments were completed but the radiation technicians say they got the right place each time with the radiation treatments regardless of the weight loss. There was always a chance my head would move while in a mask that had become too loose because I lost weight but they made me lock my chin in each time and I guess it stayed in place. Whatever, in all, I lost about 22 pounds as of my last weigh in.

I go in tomorrow to see the radiation doc. I will be ecstatic if he gives the okay to remove the feeding tube, which by the way, I hardly ever used. I think I used less than or just about a half case of 8 ounce cans of the dietary supplement. I was given 210 cans of it, or 8 3/4 cases of it. I never got passed that 3/4 case. The stuff made me sick, I felt as if I had a hard lump in my gut for many hours after using it and sometimes it me me up-chuck or it wound up coming up and coating my tonsils with a burning ooze. It was not good for me, so I avoided it like the plague and forced myself to eat. I missed a few to several days of eating here and there when the radiation got my throat too cooked to eat but otherwise I surprised my medical team by eating even at the height of treatments.

Well, enough of that. The question now is to gain weight or lose weight. I opt to lose it slowly and I can only hope that the doctors will agree. I think this is the perfect time for me to do it. I think I can cut out the snacking totally if I try now. All that regardless of me eating 2 packs of Yodels yesterday and a good amount of other junk over the past few days - just making sure I am at least maintaining my weight for my weigh in tomorrow. I just think me not getting back to mini-blimp size would be a good idea. I think it would be even better if I went back to being fairly svelte. Imagine that, my wife might actually like it, heck I might like it myself!

All the best,
GB